Here’s a list of the 100 most often mispronounced words. I love this list! Here are a few of the sample words from the list and I encourage you to hit the full link as well.
| perogative | prerogative | Even in dialects where [r] does not always trade places with the preceding vowel (as the Texan pronunciations “differnce,” “vetern,” etc.), the [r] in this prefix often gets switched. |
| perscription | prescription | Same as above. It is possible that we simply confuse “pre-” and “per-” since both are legitimate prefixes. |
| persnickety | pernickety | You may think us too pernickety to even mention this one. It is a Scottish nonce word to which U.S. speakers have added a spurious [s]. |
| preemptory | peremptory | The old pre-/per- problem. Do not confuse this word with “preemptive;” the prefix here is per-. |
| prespire | perspire | “Per-” has become such a regular mispronunciation of “pre-,” many people now correct themselves where they don’t need to. |
| plute | pollute | This one, like “plice” [police], spose [suppose], and others, commonly result from rapid speech syncope, the loss of unaccented vowels. Just be sure you pronounce the vowel when you are speaking slowly. Read here for more on the problem. |
| (probly, prolly) | probably | Haplology is the dropping of one of two identical syllables such as the [ob] and [ab] in this word, usually the result of fast speech. Slow down and pronounce the whole word for maximum clarity and to reduce your chances of misspelling the word. |
| pronounciation | pronunciation | Just as “misspelling” is among the most commonly misspelled words, “pronunciation” is among the most commonly mispronounced words. Fitting, no? |
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A pet peeve of mine is people who use the word irregardless instead of regardless. Even writing it makes want to bite it.
That made me laugh out loud. I agree!